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Day 1


Sea Kayaking Award 17th May - Pass Achieved - Alan, Andy, John, Matt, Tony, Martin & Amanda


It had been in the diary since January but, as they say, time flies and there we were, May 17th and it’s time for our kayak skills course. Peter had organised training with Dorset Kayaking and as the group readied their kayaks, we wondered what the day would bring. One pleasant surprise was the weather, a sunny day was ahead of us despite the pessimistic forecast earlier in the week. The weather was a hot topic of discussion as Peter had made clear we would be getting wet! 


Whilst discussions centred around what would be the best kit to wear our trainer Paul walked through the gate and within minutes had introduced himself and we felt like he was part of the club. It was clear that Paul was very knowledgeable but, as important, was his relaxed style in conveying information and seeking to understand what the group wanted from the day. 


Training started on dry land with pre-paddle kit checks and discussion where emergency equipment was stored and where we would paddle. Time to head to the river and a paddle towards Creeksea, our chosen spot for our training. On the way Paul demonstrated multiple paddle strokes keen to understand how much we knew about each, allowing us to practice and receive his advice on how to make our strokes as effective as possible.


Having refined our paddle skills, we headed back to the club for lunch. The sun was shining and we enjoyed a good chat whilst we refuelled. A few thoughts on clothing again as we all knew we would be getting wet before the day was out!


Once we were back on the water, we practiced contact towing whilst discussing real life situations where this would be useful. One routine we practiced was a scenario where one kayak had a hole and needed repair. Simple! Three paddlers raft up with the fourth with the hole pulling alongside, kayaker slides onto the back of the raft, the kayak on the front of the raft for repair.


With an hour of training left it was time to get wet. Paul gave us some challenges which inevitably led to us taking a dip in the river, after an initial gasp, it wasn’t so bad. Once in we had a good opportunity to practice rescues and getting back into our kayaks. 


As we went ashore, we all agreed what a great day we had had, how useful the training was and committed to practice the skills that we had worked on during the day. 


Thanks to Peter for organising and Paul from Dorset Kayaking www.seakayakdorset.co.uk for being such a great trainer.   Alan 


Day 2

Sea Kayaking Safety and Rescue Certificate Course 18th May - Pass Achieved - Alan, John, Matt, Martin, Jerry, Roger & Mark

 

I was helping out with the junior sailing at the club on Friday evening when one of the parents said to me “Was that you in amongst the people in kayaks off the pontoon on Saturday?” Well, it was! The parent went on to say that it looked really good fun, and there was quite a gathering of people stopped on the quay to watch our activities. He also said that our coach looked really good too. So, it wasn’t just us in the kayaks that enjoyed the course!!!


Although my dad bought my brother and I a kayak each when we were about eleven and twelve, it wasn’t until I went to college in west Wales, aged 18, that I really got into kayaking. There we used the pool every Wednesday evening, spent weekends on white water trips or slaloms, and trained up to be inland instructors.

Aged 21, I moved back to Essex, missed the white-water rivers and so sold my kayak!  Fast forward four and a half decades, and there I was on the Crouch with our coach Paul from Dorset Kayaking. I was actually feeling very apprehensive about the afternoon sessions when we would be getting wet! The thought of capsizing and getting back in the kayak filled me with concern. When I was in my late teens and early twenties, I was never the most agile of people, and remember struggling to clamber over paddles of rafted up kayaks to get back in after a capsize. I only ever did this in the pool, and always somehow managed to roll back up when out on rivers. So now, approaching my mid-sixties I was thinking ‘how the hell am I going to get back in the kayak?’ Well, Paul put us all at ease, and demonstrated techniques that didn’t exist when I learnt. It was all about keeping your centre of gravity low, and climbing on face down too. When I learnt, you used to have to have your own empty kayak rafted up between two other kayaks, with their paddlers holding everything steady. Now, with just one kayaker holding my kayak, I could hook myself in so much more easily than I had expected. What a joy!  Confidence started to grow, as we tried the next activity, where we capsized and pretended to have injured an arm. Here the technique involved half filling the unmanned kayak, then another paddler holding it on its side, and then the one in the water ‘floating’ in before pulling us up. Unbelievable, didn’t think that this would be so easy!


Next up, a self-rescue; so capsize, and get yourself back in your kayak unassisted.  Paul demonstrated, and made it look soooo easy! I thought, I’m never going to be able to do that, couldn’t even do it in a pool when I was 20! I hung back and let others do it first. It did look a struggle. Paul said, rather than climbing up on your kayak, try to swim over it and pull it under you. Alan had a go (we were working as a pair), but struggled to get up on the kayak. Watching him, I thought, if you go closer to the stern (back end) of the kayak, it is less buoyant (narrower), so it might be easier to get on. Suggested this to Alan, he tried it, and it worked. He was soon back in his kayak. My turn….. Shall I try a roll first? Yes, go for it, the ultimate self-rescue!! Not tried it in my sea kayak, and probably only rolled twice in the last 4 decades!  Well, almost made up on the first attempt, but failed, so went back under, repositioned, and tried again, but didn’t get up so far, so back under and bail out. Paul had showed us how to lift and flip the kayak upright spilling any water in it at the same time. Tried this, and it worked first go. So far so good! Now to get back in.  Swim over the back end. Yes, that worked first go. Slide on my chest up the back deck keeping my legs in the water for balance. Got my head to the cockpit and needed to catch my breath, so hung my head inside to keep the centre of gravity low. Alan watching me, thought that the head hanging was because of exhaustion! Head up, carry on sliding forward until my waist was on the foredeck. Now pivot upright and bum lands in the seat. Unbelievable, it works, I was overjoyed!


Final activity of the day was to rescue someone unconscious upside down in the water. Our brave coach Paul was the volunteer. 7 times he capsized, hung upside down and waited for each of us to paddle up to him and pull him up. The sense of responsibility we all felt to get him up quickly….! He did assure us that if we took too long, he would just roll up, but…!

At the end of the day, we all passed, and felt that we had learnt so much. Paul was amazing and gave us plenty of skills to practise in our next pool sessions at Woodham! 


Thank you, Peter, for organising and we now have 7 more club members equipped to come and rescue you if ever needed!!!       Roger 



Photos supplied by: John, Paul & Dee


Supporting River Action on the River Crouch

By Dan Rodwell • March 12, 2026
CKC supporting River Action, a programme being run by Dengie Climate Action Group. A number of members from both the Crouch Kayak Club and Burnham Sailing Club attended the latest meeting of the River Action group on the 11th March, at the Royal Burnham Yacht Club. Guest speaker Eamonn O'Nolan of the Deben Climate Action Centre gave a talk around how we can work together to prevent future river pollution and provided the group with some vital guidance around how their approach could be adopted on the River Crouch to tackle the increased sightings of sewage. The initial focus for the group is the implementation of water test sampling at Creeksea shoreline, as this is an area of the River Crouch that has regular open water swimming. The group are focused on the detection of any unsafe levels of E.coli bacteria in the river as this directly links back to sewage coming from treatment plants upriver. E. coli risks to swimmers in the UK are significant, particularly in rivers and some coastal areas, due to sewage discharges, agricultural runoff, and heavy rain. High E. coli levels, often exceeding safety standards, can cause serious gastrointestinal illness, infections, and in rare cases, severe, life-threatening, or fatal illness. It is worth noting, as a kayak group which travels up and down the river on a weekly basis from Spring to Summer, we have seen the impact that this sewage can cause along the shoreline or in area's of the River Crouch which are sheltered from any strong winds or currents. As a kayak group, we will always do whatever is required to ensure our members are aware of any risks around going afloat on the river, including what we can do individually or as a group to mitigate these risks whilst we are out on our weekly paddles. This year we will focus on the monitoring of any sewage that we witness whilst on the river and raise the awareness of any issues in our pre-paddle safety briefings. Please note, Impact to our kayak members has been very limited around this pollution to date, this is for a number of reasons including that we host our training sessions for water based activities in a swimming pool and also look to limit any time spent directly in the water outside of the kayaks for a normal paddle on the River Crouch. Additional policies like the correct usage of kayak protective clothing and the regular cleaning of our kayaks and associated kit have also limited any exposure to our members. CKC looks forward to exploring how we can work more closely with groups like the Dengie Climate Action Group throughout 2026, additional information will be provided once more engagement has taken place. In the meantime, we are looking to support by spreading the word locally around the focus of this group on the River Crouch. Anyone looking to make a personal donation towards their River Action programme, can do so by the link below. More information about the focus of the Dengie Climate Action Group below, Clean Water, Clear Future River Action is a local, volunteer-led campaigning group dedicated to protecting and restoring the rivers, streams, tidal inlets and drainage channels of the Dengie Peninsula. We work to highlight pollution issues, monitor the health of our watercourses, and push for stronger action from regulators and landowners. By engaging our community, promoting evidence-based solutions, and supporting practical clean-up efforts, River Action strives to safeguard the peninsula’s precious waterways for wildlife, residents, and future generations. We run entirely on volunteer enthusiasm and public donations. Can you help us out? Donate Here Your gift to River Action supports practical, local work towards a cleaner River Crouch 🌱 Together we can restore river habitats, monitor and reduce pollution in the Crouch. We want to protect swimmers, sailors, anglers, wildlife and reduce the degradation of our water ways. Every donation helps fund water‑quality testing, river clean-ups and active pressure on polluters. Give what you can today to back community‑led action along our river. Additional information can be found on the Dengie Climate Actions Website below, https://www.dengieclimateaction.org/river-action Cheers Dan Photos Supplied: Bernie Kerr from Dengie Climate Action

Upcoming Wednesday Social Paddles

By Dan Rodwell • March 11, 2026
Upcoming Wednesday Social Paddles on the River Crouch Starting from the 1st April, Join us for our Wednesday Club Social Paddle Adventure! We set off from Burnham Sailing Club (BSC) every Wednesday throughout the season, which runs from April to October. Our meet-up time is 17:30 sharp, with a goal to hit the water by 18:00. You'll find the Crouch Kayak Club conveniently situated at the entrance of the BSC compound. Each individual is allowed a maximum of three training sessions before they're required to become a paid club member of BSC, (£122 for single yearly Membership), we would also encourage everyone to join CKC (£22 for a years membership), as this means you'll benefit from additional weekend paddles on the River Crouch and other UK Rivers. All required equipment hire is available weekly from CKC for a small fee. The clubhouse amenities include changing rooms, showers, and a selection of hot food and beverages available during the season. Parking is conveniently located within the club grounds. Please note that due to unpredictable weather conditions, there may be occasions when we have to cancel the event. Rest assured, we'll make every effort to keep you informed in such cases. We look forward to welcoming you out onto the River soon. Cheers Dan Photos Supplied: Dan Rodwell

Crouch Kayak Club AGM 2026

By John Holliday • March 9, 2026
Chairman’s Report 2026 AGM Welcome and thank you for attending. We have had a number of good paddles throughout the year. As well as the usual Wednesday paddles we have had a number of trips around Wallasea and paddles to the mouth of the river as well as trips to and from Fambidge. Away from Burnham we have had a Cambridge paddle, a Medway paddle and a summer camp on the Norfolk Broads. In November Adrian ran a canoe paddle training day on the Chelmer. This was a fun session with all of the attendees taking away some useful nuggets of information. A thank you to Adrian Archer for organising this. The pool sessions have continued over the winter months and are a valuable way of introducing members to rescue techniques in a warm clean environment. Some of the sessions have not been that well attended which is a shame as they cost the club quite a bit of money to put these on. It is important that as a minimum we know that new paddlers to the club can exit a capsized kayak safely and without panicking. Really checking this should be a basic requirement to going on the water. As you know we are obliged to have a first aider on every club paddle and qualifications have to be refreshed every 3 years. This February we decided to run first aid training for all of our club first aiders. This gives us nine first aiders and so we will be well covered for the next three seasons. This year there is a trip planned to Wales paddling the Conwy estuary in June which Adrian is organising. If there is sufficient interest, possibly we might organise a trip to Dorset as well. We will send out a poll soon on this. We would like to put on some more formal training this year. A few years ago the club ran an FSRT (Foundation Safety Rescue Training) course. This is a good base course and is a prerequisite for a number of more advanced PUK courses. I believe we have sufficient new members to make it worthwhile running it again. If there is the interest I will see if there is somewhere we could do this. I would like to thank all of the committee members for their effort throughout the year. Particularly for keeping the club running in the summer when I was distracted with my house move and hospital visit. A special thank you to Andy for keeping everything on track with his reminders and emails. In addition I would like to thank Dee for maintaining the website. This is an excellent website which as a club I think we can be proud of. Also a thank you to Lorraine who has been preparing the minutes for all of the committee meetings through the year. The 2026 CKC Committee Elected at the AGM Chair - John Holliday Vice Chair - Daniel Rodwell Treasurer - Alan Organ Secretary - Andy Coppin Welfare - Andy Coppin Membership - Mark Kendrick Health / Safety - Roger Smith Social Media - Daniel Rodwell Equipment - TBC Minutes Secretary - Lorraine Holliday Other Committee Members.... Sue Quill Chris Brown Clare Albon The new committee looks forward to their first meeting of 2026, at which point they will review the plans for paddles on the River Crouch and further afield throughout 2026. If you would like to get move involved in the running of CKC and be considered for a role on the Committee, please reach out to John Holliday or Daniel Rodwell. We look forward to see all members for the first Wednesday evening social paddle on the 1st April. The membership portals for CKC and BSC are now open for 2026, see below links https://www.crouchkayakclub.co.uk/membership https://www.burnhamsc.co.uk/ Cheers John Holliday Photos Supplied: Dan Rodwell

Spring Skills Pool Session

By Dan Rodwell • March 7, 2026
Spring Skills Pool Session Busy day for the kayakers; directly on the back of this years AGM we all headed directly to SWF swimming pool for a skills session focused on wet exits and safe re-entry techniques. Also good to welcome some new members, who are going to be joining us this year for many of our weekend paddles on the River Crouch. These sessions are vital to ensure all members can practice key skills in a safe environments before heading out onto open water for the first time, or renewing skills they may have previously learnt but not practiced in a while. Cheers Dan Photos Supplied: Lorraine / Andy

First Aid Course Weekend - 21st to 22nd Feb 26

By Dan Rodwell • February 21, 2026
Preparing for the year ahead - 2 Day First Aid course completed by 9 members of CKC. Across 2 days in late February, 9 members of CKC took part in a 2 day activity lead first aid course, provided by Helen Toser. Over the 2 day course everyone was able to get hands on with all elements of first aid, including practising the vital skills required for CPR and wound care, as well as being able to find the best ways to approach the initial triage of a patent and plan out the best course of action required for their assessment and treatment. We also took the opportunity as part of this course to review the CKC first aid kits, ensuring these have everything we need for this years paddles. Including the purchase of some additional non-standard items that will make our paddles even safer in the event that our members need to perform any first aid at the club, on away paddles or out on the River Crouch. The 2 day course was concluded with a number of practical scenario assessments and a short multiple choice exam paper. We are pleased to confirm all 9 members passed the course and now have a 3 year First Aid Certification. This is a great achievement for the club and will ensure that all paddles have additional qualified first aiders on them now. We look forward to taking the knowledge and experience learnt from this course and applying it to a number of "On the River" sessions that we will be holding for members in the Spring to Summer paddles. Additional to these type of yearly courses, we also hold a number of pool sessions across each year that aim to provide safety training for the afloat elements of a paddle, focused on solo self recovery into a kayak and also group managed rescues that may be required out on open water. Pictured, Mark being supported by Sue as part of the practical exercises we undertook over the 2 day course. Well done to all involved in this weekend and congratulations on your new qualifications for the club. We look forward to welcoming Helen back to CKC in the future more courses when required. Cheers Dan Photos Supplied: Andy , featuring Mark and Sue

Surprise Encounter with a Common Dolphin on the River Crouch

By Dan Rodwell • February 8, 2026
Common Dolphin spotted by members of CKC on a recent paddle towards the mouth of the River Crouch. Members of a recent winter paddle managed to spot a common dolphin as they headed back to base near the entrance to the River Roach, without warning a dolphin was spotted as it swam close by members of the paddle on its way out the mouth of the River Crouch. Cheers Dan Photos Supplied: Dan and Lee

Anti Clockwise Lap of Bridge Marsh Island

By Dan Rodwell • January 17, 2026
Anti Clockwise Lap of Bridge Marsh Island On the 17th January, members of CKC, hosted by Adrian / Dan, did a anti clockwise lap of Bridge Marsh Island. Due to the conditions on the day we got to the westerly entrance to Bridge Marsh Creek in quick time, so we decided to paddle further up the river to Fambridge for a lunch spot and to stretch our legs before the return leg with the assistance of the outgoing tide. Cheers Dan Photos Supplied: Dan & Lee

Winter Sun Paddle

By Dan Rodwell • December 13, 2025
Winter Sun Paddle on 13th December, Heading out the mouth of the River Crouch A small group of paddlers took advantage of a break in the miserable winter weather to paddle out to the mouth of the River Crouch for some well deserved winter sun, with enough time between the tides changing the group was able to have a coffee and cake on the sands before head back to base with a lovely sunset all the way home. Cheers Dan Photos Supplied: Dan

BIG tide circumnavigation of Wallasea Island

By Roger Smith • December 7, 2025
BIG tide circumnavigation of Wallasea Island Sunday 7th December saw the 2nd biggest daytime high tide of the year, so 5 members of the club grabbed the opportunity to hopefully experience the novelty of paddling across the main road to the island! A grey morning with a stiff south easterly meant that we were into the tide and the wind on the first leg down the Crouch. Turning the corner into the Roach brought little respite despite now having the tide with us. The wind over tide made the main channel quite choppy. Those paddling closer to the edge of the river benefitted from slightly smoother water, but less tide assistance. Further on, as we turned more westwards towards Pagglesham, we were greeted by many seals slithering down the mud into the water. They then reappeared like aquatic meerkats keeping a wary eye on us. Further up the river, we pulled ashore at Pagglesham for lunch, but the wind and low temperature meant that we didn’t stay long! Next back to Pagglesham creek to paddle towards the road to Wallasea. The wind and tide were now behind us, pushing us along nicely. The height of the tide allowed us to take a shortcut across the saltings to the road. To our surprise, the water in Pagglesham Creek was around 100mm higher than in Lion’s Creek, creating a narrow stream of fast moving water across the road. Great fun was had, breaking out into the eddies on the road, then practising our kayak control and acceleration to paddle back up from the road into the higher water of Pagglesham Creek. After 20 minutes or so of playing here watched by car drivers stranded by the flood, we headed off down Lion’s Creek towards the Crouch. Next mission was to cross to Creeksea, to try to paddle along the road there too! Bizarrely, the tide was pushing up gently upstream on the first half of the crossing. The north side of the river was already ebbing fast! We were disappointed on arrival at Creeksea! Not only could we paddle a long way up the lane alongside the dinghy park there, but we were able to do the second circumnavigation of the day, this time round the Creeksea Sailing Club race hut! A gentle paddle with the tide, took us back to BSC; 5 very happy paddlers. The tide on this day was 5.48m The next one this high will be on Boxing Day 2026, and the day after, so one for the diary? Cheers Roger Photos Supplied: Dan

Open Boat Training on the River Chelmer

By Dan Rodwell • November 30, 2025
Open Boat training day on the River Chelmer, provided by Adrian On the 30th November, members of CKC, hosted by Adrian had a day out on the River Chelmer to practise their open boat skills. Cheers Dan Photos Supplied: Dan
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